


One Night in LA

by auselysium



Category: Hit the Floor (TV)
Genre: Gap Filler, M/M, Season 3 Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-05-30 08:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6416254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auselysium/pseuds/auselysium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zero doesn't come back to Jude's apartment after their conversation at the arena.  Unable to sleep and desperately needing to mend what is broken, Jude goes to pay him a visit at his place.  </p><p>(Takes place the night of the season 3 finale.  Basically my take on what would have happened between them that night.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Night in LA

It doesn’t often get cold in LA, but it’s early spring yet, and seeing as it is nearly two in the morning, Jude’s not surprised when a chill runs up his spine as he lifts his hand and knocks on the door to Zude’s townhouse. 

He considers putting his suit coat back on but he’s exhausted, emotionally and physically, and even that small motion seems like too much work  So leaves it draped over his arms instead.

He glances back over his shoulder, looking back down the softly-lit, terraced walk he’d come up from the parking lot.  The night guard at the gate had been wary of even letting Jude into the complex, until he recognized him from that infamous picture on Zero’s Instagram account.  He may not live in a sprawling mansion like most of his teammates, but there is no doubt this place has it’s perks.

Jude can see lights on inside.  He knows Zero must still be up, probably unable to sleep with things having been left with such shattering uncertainty between them.  

So he waits.

He’s been here a handful of times but mostly  _ before _ .  Before that moment in the limo, when he’d been little more than Zero’s agent, feeling strange and new things about this man he was supposed to represent.  That time feels like ages ago.  Before their secret tryst.  Before he’d finally understood himself and stood up for what he needed from a lover, even as much as it hurt.  

Before  _ I love you, stupid _ .  Before  _ It’s still just you and me _ .  

Before  _ If I have to go and you have to stay, where does that leave us? _

Another moment of chilly silence and the door opens. 

Zero fills the doorframe with his body, creating an unwelcoming, albeit attractive, barricade.  He crosses his arms across his chest.  His hips canting in a sly, nonchalant manner as he rests one shoulder against the wall.

Everything about him attempts to give off an aloof, uncaring air but Jude see right past all that.  Instead he notices the way his eyes had lit up momentarily before settling back into something more cautious.  The way he’d tamped down any relief with a deep swallow.  The way his hair, slicked back and still wet, smells all wrong.

The air wafting from inside the apartment is heavy with humidity, lingering after what had undoubtedly been a long, hot shower.  But instead of the bright, herbal smell of that “hippy-dippy shit”, Jude buys from the local organic store and keeps for them to share at his place, Zero’s hair smells of spice, dark and almost cloyingly rich.  It’s the expensive stuff from the salon.  And for whatever reason, that fact that Zude no longer smells familiar, no longer smells like  _ them _ , makes Jude’s heart constrict painfully.

“You didn’t come home,” he says.  

Zero narrows his eyes in another transparent attempt at coolness.  “You may have noticed as you’re standing on my doorstep, but  _ this  _ is actually my home.” 

Jude’s head cocks to the side, leveling a long, unimpressed look at Zero.  He hardly spends any time here now.  Jude can’t even remember the last night they’d spent apart, aside from when the team was on a road trip.  This is as much Zero’s home as Oscar’s house is his.

The look is part affectionate exasperation, part apology, part sympathy and it doesn’t take long for Zero’s petulance to crumble beneath it.

“I didn’t know if you wanted me there, considering,”  He admits, with an innocent shrug.

“You idiot,” Jude murmurs, as Zero’s lips curl into an almost smile.

“Wanna drink?”

Jude nods, finally allowed admittance into Zero’s apartment.

The place is a shrine to Zero.  Framed Sports Illustrated covers, All-Star Trophies and Championship rings.  He is immersed in story of the tragic tale of the boy, saved from a wretched foster family on the back of his talent alone.  Here he can only be that: the hero, the bad-boy, the success story.  That image he created.  Only Zero.

As Jude drops his coat over the back of the sofa, it is easy to see why, even in those earliest days, when their relationship had been a secret to keep, Zero had still managed to adopt Jude’s place so quickly and easily as his own.  In that space, he could be more than just a soundbite.  More than just a name on a the back of a jersey. He could be truthful about himself.  Be himself.

Jude suddenly doesn’t think this place is so fancy after all.

The sound of ice tinkling in glass tumblers catches his ear and he turns to watch Zero come out of the kitchen holding two healthy servings of whisky.   He pads across the hardwood floor in bare feet, handing Jude his glass silently.

That’s when Jude notices the cuts.  The tiny red gashes running along the outer edge of his fingers all the way up to where his arm disappears into his shirt-sleeve.  Jude catches Zero’s palm, tsking softly as Zero watches him examine the injuries.  

“At least it’s your non-shooting hand,” Jude says as he lets his hand fall away.

Zero scoffs, turning to drop unceremoniously onto the nearby couch.  “I’ll be sure to have the doc for my new team tape me up, real good.”

“Hey,” Jude says, gentle but firm.  He sits opposite Zero on the edge of the coffee table. “It’s not a done deal, alright?  Jelena can’t just do that.  She can’t just decide to trade you.  Not without consulting Pete, anyway.”  Jude’s eyes roll as he mutters, half to himself, “And if he would answer one of the twenty messages I’ve left for him tonight, I’d know if she had.”

Zero takes a long sip.  “Being traded, it’s all part of the game.  At the end of the day, I’m just a commodity.”  He leans forward, elbows to his knees, cupping the whiskey in both hands.  “Besides, what do I have to keep in LA now anyway?”

“Zero,” Jude snaps, offended and more than a little hurt by that underhanded slight.  But then remembering, he isn’t the one whose emotions needed tending to that night, he brushes his fingers across his jaw and much more gently says, “Gideon.”

It’s a word saved for their most intimate moments.  Breathed against the shell of Zero’s ear, his legs trembling, knees tucked high and tight around Jude’s ribcage.  Whispered after his  _ I love you _ once the trembling stops.  And just as he always does in those moments, Zero reacts to Jude’s use of it now.  

His eyes flutter closed, a beautiful pink creeps up across his cheekbones, his shoulders fall and he leans into Jude’s tender touch.

“What I said earlier tonight…It was just a lot to take in all once, you know?”  Jude begins gently.  Zero looks up at him thoughtfully through his lashes.  “First you tell me you’re getting traded and that Jelena owns the team outright, which means I don’t have a job anymore and that Oscar is going to be left to his own devices with Lionel.  I just didn’t have time to think.”

“I get it, alright?  There are other people in your life who you love, who feel you need to protect...”

“Lionel has been there for me from the beginning of my time with the Devils.  Stood by me when no one else would.  I owe it to her to do the same.”

“But since when is Oscar your fucking responsibility?”

“He’s not, but for once,” Jude says, trying to stay calm.  “For once, I’d like the Kinkade family name not to associated with psychotic, megalomaniacal killers.  You know, show the world that we can actually be decent human being for a change?  And if I can’t keep him in check, no one can.  He’s my father, Zero.   _ Family _ .  You wouldn’t…”

“Understand?”  Zero finishes, cruelly.

Jude winces, realizing what a complete sack of shit he is being.  He drops his face to his hands, mortified.  “Fuck, Zero, I....” He groans, from behind his fingers.

But then he feels Zude’s palm, warm and heavy on his knee.  Through the thin fabric of his suit pants, he can feel Zero’s thumb sweep soothing circles on his inner thigh. 

“Jude, it’s ok.”    

He drops his hands to his lap at the levity in Zero’s voice and dares to look up.  He is smiling.  

“You’re right,” he says, with a wry laugh.  “I don’t understand.  Fathers? Families?  That’s your area of expertise.”  Jude scoffs even as Zero’s expression sobers. “Because I told you.  All the only family I’ve got, the only family I need, is you.”  Jude’s heart stutters at the absolute sincerity; the immensity of those words.  “And to think that I might lose you…”

“You won’t,” Jude insists.  He sides his hands on either side of Zero’s palm, clasping his hand between his tightly.  “Do you think anyone else in my life means even a fraction of what you do?”  He asks in a fierce whisper. “If so, then you really are stupid.”  

Zero’s brow creases, relief flooding his face even as one of the tears pooling at his bottom lid slips over onto his cheek.  Jude smiles quickly, wiping the tear away.

“So maybe you do get traded and maybe I really am unemployed.  And maybe we have to do the long distance thing for a few months while I make sure Oscar doesn’t go all Norman Bates on Lionel, but we’ll make this work.  Because we have to.  Because  _ this _ ,” Jude brings their joined hands up between them.  He plants a long kiss to Zude’s knuckles, lips brushing carefully across the still open cuts.  “You and me, together, it’s everything. ”

Zero’s eyes fall to their joined hands, tugging gently as if to test the steadfastness of the grasp as the corner of his mouth turns into a crooked smile. It only takes one shared look for Zero to lurch forward, fingers insistent on the nape of Jude’s neck, bringing their lips together to lock in a deep kiss.

Jude edges forward, his knee slipping between Zero’s to hit the edge of the couch.  It is easy enough from there to crawl in Zero’s lap, finally letting go of Zero’s hand to skitter his fingers over the skin of his neck, across his collarbone.  Zero’s makes a glorious rumbling sound somewhere deep in his chest as Jude finds the top button of his shirt and begins to work it open.  Zero’s hands fall lightly to his hips, their gentle pressure pulling him in even closer only to have Jude’s phone ring shrilly in the pocket of his coat still flung on the couch next to them.  

“Sorry,” Jude says breathless, frantically scrabbling at his jacket pocket so he can silence the phone and return to their moment.  But then he sees the name on the screen.  “The fuck...”

“What?”  Zero asks, threading his fingers back through his hair.

“It’s Oscar.” Jude says, dumbfounded.  

“Well, answer it,” Zero insists.

Jude extracts himself from Zero’s lap, taking a steadying breath before answering.  “What do you want?”

He has a hard time processing what Oscar is telling him.   _ Lionel and Pete.  Carbon monoxide poisoning.  Not looking good. _  It becomes all the harder when Zero’s phone buzzes, indicating a text and he goes pale as he reads it.  A breathless “Oh shit,” slipping from his mouth.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” he says, as he finally hangs up with Oscar.  “What is it?”  He immediately asks as Zero continues to scan his phone.

“Text from Derek.  But it’s all over twitter too.”

“What?”

“Jelena has been shot.  In her office at the arena.”

“What?”  Jude gasps.  “Is she…?”

“I don’t know,” he gestures helplessly.  “What did Oscar want?”

“Pete and Lionel are both at the hospital.  They’re both in bad shape.”

Without a word, Zero tosses Jude his coat and Jude grabs Zero’s keys.  Their focus and actions are singular and synchronized.  He pauses, hand hovering over Zero’s waiting hand.   

“I love you.”

It is not said with any hint of romance or sentiment but in a way one might, if they actually believed in that sort of thing, give their thanks up to God .  It is gratitude at the act of loving.  Reassurance in that love being returned.  Relief in knowing neither one of them has to go it alone.

Zero looks at him, face grim but determined, a look that must be mirrored on Jude’s face.  His fingers curl tightly around Jude’s, catching the keys along with his hand.

“I love you, too.”

With a final deep breath, Jude opens the door, stepping back into the night and the unknown chaos exploding around them, grateful that this corner of his life has been knitted back together, more securely than ever.  

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are life! Follow me on tumblr @auselysium. Thanks, friends!


End file.
